NEWSLETTER OF THE BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA TERRESTRIAL ... · BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA...

Spring 2001 Vol. 20, No. 1

NEWSLETTER OF THE

BIOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA

(TERRESTRIAL ARTHROPODS)

Table of Contents

General Information and Editorial Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . (inside front cover)

News and Notes

Activities at the Entomological Societies’ Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Summary of the Scientific Committee Meeting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Canadian Biodiversity Network Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Biological Survey Website Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

The E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Project Update: Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

The Quiz Page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Arctic Corner

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Arctic Insects, Global Warming and the ITEX Program . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Selected Future Conferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Answers to Faunal Quiz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Quips and Quotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

List of Requests for Material or Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Cooperation Offered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

List of Email Addresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

List of Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Index to Taxa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

General Information

The Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods) appears

twice yearly. All material without other accreditation is prepared by the Secretariat

for the Biological Survey.

Editor: H.V. Danks

Head, Biological Survey of Canada

(Terrestrial Arthropods)

Canadian Museum of Nature

P.O. Box 3443, Station “D”

Ottawa, Ontario K1P 6P4

TEL: 613-566-4787

FAX: 613-364-4021

E-mail: [email protected]

Queries, comments, and contributions to the Newsletter are welcomed by the

editor. Deadline for material for the Fall 2001 issue is July 16, 2001.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Editorial Notes

The Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods) develops and coordinates

national initiatives in taxonomic and ecological entomology on behalf of the

Canadian Museum of Nature (formerly the National Museum of Natural Sciences)

and the Entomological Society of Canada. This Newsletter communicates

information about systematic and faunistic entomology that may be of interest in

Canada, and reports especially on activities relevant to the Biological Survey.

This newsletter will also be available soon on the Survey’s website at:

http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/esc.hp/bschome.htm

Vol. 20, No. 1 1

News and Notes

Activities at the Entomological Societies’ Meeting

The 2000 Joint Annual Meeting of the Ento-mological Society, Société d’entomologie

du Québec and Entomological Society ofAmerica took place in Montreal 2-6 December2000. The meeting was attended by nearly 3000people, and this large meeting, which includedthe Entomological Society of America for thefirst time since 1982, comprised about 15 si-multaneous sessions, with a full range of sym-posia, contributed papers, posters and otherevents. In all the meeting had more than 1000papers and more than 800 posters.

Items in the program (emphasizingthose of particular interest to the BiologicalSurvey) included:

An opening plenary session

Symposia or conferences on: Acarology; Soilmites: systematics, biodiversity and ecology infour dimensions; Coleoptera systematics: per-spectives and philosophical approaches; Waterrelations and winter survival of insects;Modelling insect seasonality; Insects in art andillustration: will we always need scientific illus-trators; Arthropod diversity and management indryland cropping systems; Mining theColeopteran holomorph; North AmericanDipterists Society; Coleoptera Society: The sys-tematics of Coleoptera: a millennium view;Heteroptera Society: Contributions of ThomasR. Yonke to Hemipterology in collaboration withhis students and colleagues; Why is the Insecta sodiverse and species rich: a phylogenetic perspec-tive; Aquatic insect studies: old questions, newtools; Arthropods of grasslands: current statusand future directions; International Society ofHymenopterists; The science of entomology: aview of the past and lessons for the future; Pro-tecting and promoting our pollinators.

Many other symposia, formal and informal confer-ences, typically convened (like those above) byAmerican and Canadian coorganizers.

Submitted papers, grouped by the ESA sections:Systematics, morphology and evolution; Physi-ology, biochemistry, toxicology, and molecular

biology; Biology, ecology and behaviour; Medi-cal and veterinary entomology; Regulatory andextension entomology; and Crop protection ento-mology.

Poster sessions, grouped in the same way.

A student paper competition, in many subsections,for both talks and posters.

The Linnaean games

The ESC Gold Medal Address.

Governing Board and Annual GeneralMeetings also took place, and various honourswere awarded by the Societies. Because themeeting was so large, and its core structure or-ganized by the ESA, there was no banquet, andno complimentary coffee during the sessions,and some other events normal at the ESC meet-ing were abbreviated or took a different form.However, the SEQ and ESC organized a verywell attended evening President’s reception atthe Château Ramezay Museum for members ofthose societies.

The meeting also featured an extensivedisplay area, with numerous booths showingscientific books, equipment, and other items. ACanadian pavilion included displays from orga-nizations such as the Entomological Society ofCanada, including the Biological Survey, theSociété d’entomologie du Québec, the Associa-tion des entomologistes amateurs du Québec,the Insectarium de Montréal, the Biodome deMontréal, and the Cooperation Entomofaunedu Québec.

The Biological Survey showed a generalposter at the ESC booth, displayed selectedpublications, and made available leaflets aboutthe Survey, as well as its for-sale and free-of-charge publications.

The program was so diverse that a sum-mary of individual titles of interest would be ex-tremely long. However, presentations by Cana-dian entomologists on systematics and relatedthemes included the following titles:

2 Newsletter of the Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods)

Ascid mites (Acari: Mesostigmata) of soil and adja-cent habitats in lowland tropical rainforest of LaSelva, Costa Rica: An example of underesti-mated acarine biodiversity. E. Lindquist

Patterns of diversity in the Ceratozetoidea (Acari:Oribat ida) : A global assessment . V.

Behan-Pelletier

Mites on a rampage: Exploration of arboreal sus-pended soils in ancient rainforests. N. Winches-

ter

What’s on the Horizon?: Coleopteran systematicsin the 21

stCentury. R. Anderson

Water balance in insects dormant for the winter. H.

Danks

Modeling gypsy moth diapause: The key to a geo-graphically robust phenology? D. Gray

Grasshopper seasonality in the Northern GreatPlains. D. Johnson

The stability of gypsy moth seasonality in coastalBritish Columbia: A study of persistence. J.

Régnière

Phylogeny of the Papilio machaon species group:Are P. joanae and P. brevicauda hybrid species?A. Mitchell and F. Sperling

Biological assessment of the link between mito-chondrial DNA sequences, Dioryctria morphol-ogy and larval host. F. Sperling, G. Roux, N.

Rappaport, J. Stein and G. Grant

Phylogenetic relationships of the genus Thricops

Rondani and the status of Alloeostylus Schnabl(Diptera: Muscidae). J. Savage

A taxonomic revision of North American membersof Gyretes Brullé (Coleoptera: Gyrinidae), Northof Mexico. J. Babin and Y. Alarie

Cladistics of the Tryphoninae (Hymenoptera:Ichneumonidae) with comments on tribal rela-tionships, classification and adaptive radiation.A. Bennett

The higher Diptera community of sedge meadows(Carex: Cyperaceae) in southern Quebec. F.

Beaulieu

The use of molecules and morphology in delineat-ing bumble bee species. T. Whidden

Diversity of Agromyzidae (Diptera) in Canadiantallgrass prairies. V. Crecco

Generic relat ionships of the subfamilyDolichopodinae (Diptera: Dolichopodidae). S.

Brooks

Supercooling capacity and survival of low tempera-tures by a pyrethroid-resistant strain ofTyphlodromus pyri Scheuten (Acari :Phytoseiidae). D. Moreau and J. Hardman

Realized host range assessment of EuropeanPeristenus species. H. White and U. Kuhlmann

Psithyrus invasions of bumblebee field colonies. L.

Pelletier and J. McNeil

Differential dispersal and resource partitioning ex-plain the coexistence of competing parasitoidspecies. B. Van Hezewijk and J. Roland.

Insect succession on pig carrion in Manitoba. G.

Gill, T. Galloway and G. Anderson

The pollination ecology of cloudberry (Rubus

chamaemorus). A. Brown and J. McNeil

After the 1998 ice storm: Temporal and spatial re-sponses by a scolytid and its associated preda-tors. K. Ryall and S. Smith

Does forest fragmentation affect the lepidopteranhost assemblages of forest tent caterpillarparasitoids? C. Schmidt and J. Roland

Biodivers i ty of Torymus (Hymenoptera:Torymidae) associated with galls of Diplolepis

(Hymenoptera: Cynipidae) in western vs. easternCanada. S. Rempel and J. Shorthouse

Implications of spruce budworm management forthe ecological diversity of moths and carabidbeetles in the boreal forest. C. Wytrykush andN. Holliday

Large-scale population genetic structure of an al-pine butterfly: Effects of landscape, dispersal,and population history. N. Keyghobadi, J.

Roland and C. Strobeck

Flying beetle biodiversity and the effect of inte-grated pest management in mature northern Inte-rior Douglas-fir, Dendroctonus pseudotsugae. S.

Carson

Comparison of arthropod abundance, diversity andtrophic richness within intercropped agroforestyand monoculture agroecosystems. H. Middleton

and S. Smith

Diversity and forest maturation: Proposition of anew model. P. Paquin, N. Dupérré and P.-P.

Harper

Vol. 20, No. 1 3

Parasitic wasps (Scelionidae, Trichogrammatidae)attacking tabanid eggs in Manitoba, Canada. M.

Iranpour, T. Galloway and L. Masner.

Biogeography of Cardiophorus Eschscholtz(Coleoptera: Elateridae) of eastern North Amer-ica with two new species and a new synonymy.H. Douglas

Intraguild predation among spider mite predatorspresent in apple orchards. C. Provost and D.

Coderre

The natural enemy response to high- andlow-density infestations of Tomicus piniperda

(L.) (Coleoptera: Scolytidae). N. Rudzik, K.

Ryall and S. Smith

Soil formation and mite colonization on vegetatedmine tailings near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. M.

St. John, G. Bagatto, V. Behan-Pelletier, E.

Lindquist, J. Shorthouse and I. Smith

The effect of grazing on ant (Hymenoptera:Formicidae) biodiversity in the south Okanagangrasslands of British Columbia, Canada. J.

Heron and G. Scudder

The effect of grazing on Orthopteran andGryllopteran biodiversity in the SouthernOkanagan Valley of British Columbia. P. Liu

Griesdale and G. Scudder

Comparison of insect diversity on post-fire har-vested and non-harvested forested landscapes inthe Waterton Lakes area of southwestern Al-berta. E. Kinsella

Spiders of Alberta and Saskatchewan. D. Buckle

and R. Holmberg

Insects of the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador. S. Peck

The comparative morphology of the sting apparatusof bees. L. Packer

Combining digital images in a computer layeringtechnique for viable 3-D images: Manually. H.

Goulet

Assessment of arthropod biodiversity and pest dy-namics in various production input levels andcropping system strategies. O. Olfert, M. Braun

and R. Weiss

Intercropping and its impact on beneficial and pestinsects on the Great Plains. R. Butts, H.

Carcámo, K. Floate and M. Weiss

Why Strepsiptera cannot possibly be close relativesof Diptera. J. Kukalova-Peck

Phylogenetic resolution in Adephaga using larvalchaetotaxy: Two examples from Dytiscidae. Y.

Alarie

A cladistic classification of the Empidoidea(Diptera: Eremoneura). J. Cumming and B.

Sinclair

Selected inventor ies and selected fl ies :Sphaerocerids and micropezids in temperate andtropical surveys. S. Marshall

Molecular systematics of Simulium s. str. (Diptera:Simuliidae). M. Smith

Examination of the peninsula effect upon insectspecies richness of the Bruce Peninsula (Ontario,Canada). C. Onodera

Carabidae abundance and diversity in AnnapolisValley, Nova Scotia apple orchards. C.

O’Flaherty, R. Smith, S. Rigby and C. Shef-

field

Insect diversity following stand conversion: A com-parison among restoration techniques. R. Mor-

gan, S. Smith and M. Bellocq

Comparative pollination effectiveness amongApoidean visitors of wild blueberry (Vaccinium

angustifolium Ait.). S. Javorek, K. MacKenzie

and S. Vander Kloet

Arctic insects, global warming and the ITEX pro-gram. R. Ring

Impacts of differing harvest intensities on carabidbeetle diversity in the boreal forest. T. Work, J.

Spence, J. Volney, K. Cryer and D. Shorthouse

Dynamique des communautés de collemboles dansdes coupes sylvicoles, en forêt boréale. M.

Chagnon and S. Brais

Staphylinid beetles as indicators of disturbance innorthern forests. G. Pohl

Boreal spiders as indicators of multi-scale foreststructure, disturbance, and biodiversity. D.

Shorthouse

Patterns in mayfly emergence in Lake Erie. L.

Corkum

Food web patterns along a stream continuum: In-sights from stable isotope analysis. R. Doucett

Midgehikers on stoneflies: Using stable isotopes tosort out a parasitic relationship. D. Giberson

What parasites can contribute to the study of foodwebs. D. Marcogliese


Classification of aquatic Adephaga (Coleoptera):Old tools used in new ways lead to new answers.R. Roughley

Mentum deformities and community compositionof chironomid larvae (Diptera: Chironomidae)downstream of a New Brunswick metal mine. E.

Swansburg

Overview of Canadian grasslands. K. Floate

The use of fire as a biodiversity and conservationmanagement tool in tallgrass prairies. R.

Roughley and D. Pollock

Diversity of Meromyza (Diptera: Chloropidae) inCanadian native grasslands. T. Wheeler

Endemism and dispersal of short-horned bugs(Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha) in PacificNorthwest intermontane grasslands. A. Hamil-

ton

Parasitoids of bark beetles in eastern Canada: Re-cent insights. K. Ryall and S. Smith

Diversity of Diplolepis (Cynipidae) and their gallson the wild roses of Canada. J. Shorthouse

The influence of crown closure on defoliators ofyoung trees. D. Quiring and D. Ostaff

Multiple-scale linkages of boreal forest spiders andcarabids to habitat structure modifications. D.

Shorthouse, J. Spence and W. Volney

Lepidoptera odysseys: How do ‘Leps’ deal withforest habitat structure? L. Morneau, W.

Volney and J. Spence

Population genetic aspects of pollinator decline. R.

Owen and L. Packer

Using communities of pollinators to assess environ-mental stress: Departures from log normality indiversity and abundance. P. Kevan

Systematics of the strobi-complex of the weevil ge-nus Pissodes: The larval perspective. D. Wil-

liams and D. Langor

Morphometric modifications from free to parasticlifestyle in Aleochara bilineata (Gyll.)(Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) larvae. L. Royer, J.

LeLannic, J.-P. Nenon and G. Boivin

The systematics of Lasiopogon Loew (Diptera:Asilidae). R. Cannings

Diversity of Agromyzidae (Diptera) in southernYukon grasslands. S. Boucher

Mining collections: Cerambycidae (Coleoptera)and the importance of regional insect collections.D. McCorquodale

Preliminary surveys of terrestrial arthropods inmountain national parks in western Canada. R.

Longair, W. Fitch and A. Duguay

The joint annual meeting was precededby the meeting of the Entomological Collec-

tions Network, held at McGill University andattended by about 90 people. This all-day ses-sion included papers on:

Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera at theINHS, a database and summary of collections. E.

DeWalt and C. Favret

Re-curating, databasing and mapping the odonatecollection at the University of Nebraska StateMuseum. M. Jameson

Labels and unique identifiers. J. Pickering

Biota of Canada Information Network (BCIN). I.

Smith and L. Speers

Retrospective data capture and documentation. L.

Speers

Virtual insect collections: Dipterists lead the way.C. Thompson

Why curators must preserve everything for DNA -and how. D. Quicke

An entomological survey of Navassa Island, withnotes on species richness and endemism. W.

Steiner and J. Swearingen

The Biological Survey of Canada (Terrestrial Ar-thropods). H. Danks

Arthropods of Canadian grasslands: a BiologicalSurvey of Canada megaproject. T. Wheeler

A taxonomist’s vision: knowing all earth’s species.T. Erwin

Great Smokies ATBI and <www.discoverlife.org>update. J. Pickering

At this meeting too, information aboutthe Biological Survey of Canada (TerrestrialArthropods) was made available.

Vol. 20, No. 1 5

Summary of the meeting of the Scientific Committee of the BiologicalSurvey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods), October 2000.

The Scientific Committee met in Ottawa on12-13 October 2000.

Scientific projects

The various scientific projects of theSurvey were discussed, including the followingprogress.

1. Grasslands

Dr. Terry Wheeler had reported that theSurvey’s Informal Conference on Arthropodsof Grasslands would be held as anticipated atthe joint ESA/ESC/SEQ meeting on Wednes-day 6 December. The list of speakers and titlesis available on the BSC grasslands web pageand in the fall BSC newsletter. A formal sym-posium on the grasslands project is planned,possibly at next year’s ESC meeting in NiagaraFalls. Habitat-based ecological projects will bethe focus of this symposium and the symposiumproceedings, along with additional ecologicalchapters, would constitute the first major vol-ume in the Grasslands project.

Dr. Wheeler also reported on summerfieldwork in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Al-berta, continuing activities in the southern Yu-kon grasslands, and the processing and sortingof Diptera from grassland collections.

Dr. Floate reported on a preserved areaof foothills grasslands in Alberta called theRoss grasslands. He commented on this andother unique habitats with a good potential forresearch. He added that frequent and wide-spread grass fires continue throughout Alberta.The year 2000 was another drought year in Al-berta and the situation is critical, so that grass-land ecology is in the public eye. He outlinedsome ongoing research on grasslands in Al-berta.

The Committee reviewed research fromelsewhere as well as ideas for seeking fundingfrom foundations, upcoming conferences (seehttp://iisd.ca/wetlands/pcesc/default.htm) andadditional grasslands conservation initiatives.To move forward the Grasslands project furtherthe subcommittee will develop plans for joint

collecting efforts in key grassland habitats overthe next two or three years.

2. Arctic invertebrate biology

Dr. Ring reported on the symposium oncold hardiness held at the University of Victorialast spring. About 40 participants represented 8different countries, and topics ranged from soilecology to molecular genetics. Some of the pa-pers will be published. The next meeting of thistriennial event will take place in 2003 in theCzech Republic.

Dr. Danks reminded the Committee thatthe purpose of the project was to try and pushforward work on arctic insects in Canada.Within that framework the Arctic Insect Newsnewsletter was initiated. However, develop-ments in this area have been lacking and Cana-dian content for the newsletter is rather limited.Many of the submissions are from or deal withwork in other countries and more than half ofthe recipients of Arctic Insect News are fromoutside Canada. The newsletter, like the projectitself, has not visibly increased work in Cana-dian arctic entomology, due to lack of funding,lack of personnel and difficulty in permit proce-dures for example. Although it is well receivedoverseas, Arctic Insect News is not really serv-ing the objectives of the Biological Survey. TheCommittee considered whether Arctic InsectNews should be discontinued, allowing furtherefforts to be placed on the Grasslands Newslet-ter, for example. It was agreed to discontinuethe newsletter, but to include a section in theSurvey’s regular newsletter devoted to arcticresearch. The Committee also thought thatsomeone in the international community mightwant to start something similar to Arctic InsectNews, but without the Canadian arctic emphasisof the Survey’s newsletter.

3. Seasonal adaptations

Dr. Danks reported that the project onseasonal adaptations is progressing, with paperson dehydration in dormant insects, measuringand reporting life-cycle duration in insects and


mites, and insect cold hardiness: a Canadianperspective now published or in press. Dr.Danks had also recently submitted a paper ondormancy responses to a special issue of ActaSocietatis Zoologicae Bohemicae planned tocommemorate the 70

thbirthday of Prof. Ivo

Hodek, the well-known Czech student ofdiapause and related phenomena. A symposiumfor the joint ESC/SEQ/ESA meeting entitled“Water relations and winter survival in insects”includes a presentation on “Water balance in in-sects dormant for the winter”.

Dr. Danks reported that specific cooper-ative work at the University of Victoria is pro-ceeding well. Dr. Danks added that he had re-cently been invited to give lectures on seasonaladaptations themes at the 4

thEuropean Work-

shop of Invertebrate Ecophysiology (in St. Pe-tersburg in September 2001, the place whereProf. Danilevsky, the famous Russian scientistwho worked on insect photoperiodism anddiapause, did his work) and at the InternationalCzech-Japanese Seminar of Entomology(Czech Republic in summer 2002).

4. Insects of Keewatin and Mackenzie

Drs. Currie and Giberson reported on theHorton River (see Newsletter of the BiologicalSurvey of Canada (Terrestrial Arthropods)19(2): 48-51). The permit process was ex-tremely cumbersome, and they did not receivetheir final Inuvialuit land use permit until lessthan a week before they departed. Five ento-mologists had participated; engaging a profes-sional outfitter proved to be a very wise invest-ment. The expedition was very expensive andcost much more than field work done in foreigncountries such as Vietnam. Dr. Currie con-cluded that although some of the processes ofdoing work in the north are discouraging, over-all the trip was well worth the effort. Some ofthe preliminary scientific findings were out-lined. Plans for 2001 are still under consider-ation, to the Kazan River, the Seal River or theThelon River.

Other scientific priorities

1. Old growth forests

Dr. Scudder reminded the Committeethat the aim of this item had been to work to-wards some sort of synthesis once various pro-jects are complete. A symposium (perhaps in2002) and also a publication are planned, with aspecific focus rather than a more generalbiodiversity theme.

Dr. Ring outlined some continuing workon old growth forest arthropods from BritishColumbia. Dr. Currie reminded the Committeeabout a tract of old-growth forest nearCornwall, Ontario, as a potentially interestingarea to study.

2. Invasions and reductions

Dr. Foottit and Dr. Scudder have justfinished a chapter on pathways of introductionin Canada (based on selected distributionaldata) for a book that resulted from the sessionon invasions at the 1999 national EMAN meet-ing. Dr. Foottit and Dr. Scudder are consideringa book about alien insects, which might soon beconfirmed by the potential publisher. The gov-ernment is currently greatly concerned aboutquarantine issues and risk assessment.

3. Survey web site

Dr. Danks reported that there had beendelays in contract work on the website and ingetting content for some sections. Then thereproved to be technical difficulties especiallywith the online database of workers as well assuch initial difficulties as incomplete uploads,wrong subdirectories and a user access problemfor most of the files. Therefore, the BSC sitewas disabled for some time. As a result, theBSC newsletter and promotion of thebiodiversity brief had to be delayed becausethey contained references to the site.

However, most of the content of thewebsite is now available with a few areas stillunder construction. Much more information isnow on the site, including the full text of Surveybriefs and chapters from the Insects of the Yu-kon book. The Committee agreed that the site isnow much enhanced.

Vol. 20, No. 1 7

4. Faunal analysis

Dr. Anderson reported that the initialfaunal analysis information was prepared andposted on the Survey website including updatedinformation on some orders. The site also hasan introduction to the project and the protocols.Ways to allow updates on other orders were dis-cussed and updates for Coleoptera and Dipterawill be pursued as well as posting less currentdata for other groups to help stimulate furtherwork.

5. Funding for biodiversity studies

Dr. Wheeler has continued to expand thedatabase of funding sources, and the continuedgrowth of the database will depend on furthersuggestions. Several copies of the list ofsources were sent out to students in response toemail requests. The introduction to the data-base, with general advice on grant applications,has now been posted on the BSC website. Amodified copy of the introductory section willbe submitted to the ESC Bulletin.

Difficulties with the Lyman Museum’sweb site mean that it has proved difficult to postthe list of funding sources there and link it to theSurvey site. Members of the Committee notedthe Nature Discovery Fund of the CanadianMuseum of Nature, reallocated NSERC funds,and a call for submissions for national centresof excellence, which had elicited applicationslinked to biodiversity.

6. Brief on biodiversity studies

Dr. Danks reported that the brief hadbeen completed and published [Danks, H.V.and Winchester, N.N. 2000. Terrestrial Arthro-pod Biodiversity Projects — Building A Fac-tual Foundation. Biological Survey of Canada(Terrestrial Arthropods) Document Series No.7. Ottawa. 38 pp.] aimed at both general andmore specific scientific audiences. Members ofthe Committee asserted that the brief is provingto be widely useful, and that such briefs are hav-ing an impact on what people are doing inbiodiversity studies.

7. Arthropods and fire

Several investigations are under way onthe relationships between arthropods and fire,especially in grasslands. Dr. Scudder will pre-pare an article on arthropods and fire in dry B.C.grassland for the next issue of the GrasslandsNewsletter.

Dr. Roughley spoke about hisfire-related work on tall-grass prairie, whichhad begun in response to inquiries on when isthe best time to burn from a conservation pointof view. Some results will be presented at thejoint meeting in Montreal.

Others will be approached for potentialreports or notes for the Grasslands Newsletter.Eventually, a symposium on this subject mightbe organized. If enough interest is generated tooin fires in the boreal zone as well as in grass-lands, a broader symposium might eventuallybe feasible.

8. Monitoring of continuing priorities

Updated information on earlier or cur-rently less active Survey projects was reviewed,including arthropod fauna of springs, insects ofNewfoundland, arthropod fauna of large rivers,arthropod ectoparasites of vertebrates, arthro-pods of the Queen Charlotte Islands (HaidaGwaii), and arthropods of special habitats.

With respect to arthropods of peatlandsand freshwater wetlands, work with pitcherplants was reported by Dr. Giberson, revealinginteresting findings about the pH of these habi-tats. Mount Allison University recently re-ceived a Canada Foundation for Innovationgrant to develop a wetlands centre. If anothergrant application to fund qualified personnel issuccessful an influx of graduate students work-ing on wetlands in the Maritimes would be ex-pected. Dr. Currie reminded the Committeeabout the Australian winery, Banrock StationWinery, that established a wetland conservationinitiative in Australia and is starting the samekind of program in Canada. The Royal OntarioMuseum has been the benefactor of this pro-gram and recently received funds for wetlandsresearch, beginning on Walpole Island in south-western Ontario.


With respect to climatic change, Dr.Floate commented that a group of climatolo-gists at the Lethbridge research centre have anumber of models of climate change but arelooking for collaborators on how insects re-spond to climate changes. Dr. Foottit describedwork in progress using climate-matching pro-grams such as Bioclim - an algorithm that usesclimate surfaces, initially with data on prairieinsects. Dr. Ring noted that recent climate pro-jections concerning changes in annual tempera-ture and other factors are summarized in a re-cent publication from the Climate Change Pro-ject [Hengeveld, H.G. 2000. seehttp: / /www.msc-smc.ec.gc.ca/saib/cl i-mate/ccd_00-01.pdf ]. Dr. Shorthouse notedthat the symposium theme of annual meeting ofthe Entomological Society of Ontario (GreatLakes Forestry Centre, Sault Ste. Marie, On-tario, 27-28 October 2000) is Climate Changeand Insect Populations.

Concerning agroecosystems, Dr. Floateannounced that the expansion of the LethbridgeResearch Centre has now begun, including aninsect quarantine laboratory / rearing complexwith an attached greenhouse as well as addi-tional insect laboratories and offices. Severalnew pest problems are occurring in Alberta, forexample, the sweet clover weevil, the pea leafweevil, the wheat head armyworm and the cab-bage seed pod weevil (abundant in 2000). Therehas also been a resurgence of the wheat stemsawfly, causing significant damage. Some otherresearch and potential publications were sum-marized. Dr. Chiasson noted that the demandfor organic agriculture is very high, but lack ofpromotion of alternatives to pesticides, such asbiocontrol, is currently an impediment. More-over, organic systems tend to contain alien in-sects, brought in on nursery stock, etc.

9. Publication of systematic and faunisticpapers

Dr. Wheeler had pointed out continuedconcern over the dwindling avenues for publi-cation of systematic and faunistic papers on Ca-nadian arthropods because of an unwillingnessby some outlets to accept certain categories ofmanuscripts documenting the Canadian fauna,

and changes in editorial policy on format, forexample. Dr. Wheeler noted that Lyman Mu-seum Memoirs and Notes series still exist; suchseries could be strongly upgraded to provide afully reviewed series of occasional publicationson the systematics, faunistics (including sur-veys) and ecology of arthropods. The Commit-tee discussed these issues at length and con-cluded that such an idea and related possibilitiesare worth pursuing through discussions includ-ing the CMN, the ESC, and others.

10. Other priorities

The Committee also discussed prioritiessuch as damaged ecosystems and Survey pub-licity.

Liaison and exchange of information

1. Canadian Museum of Nature

Dr. Mark Graham, Director, ResearchServices, Canadian Museum of Nature reportedthat the Museum is beginning a new strategic5-year plan, which will replace the previous5-year plan. The process will include broadconsultations. The Museum will soon be adver-tising 2 visiting fellowships to the Aylmer re-search facility.

A special meeting of Natural Sciencesand Engineering Research Council, Social Sci-ences and Humanities Research Council, Cana-dian Institute for Health Research representa-tives and museum and university workers washeld to discuss best practices for care of re-search collections. The CMN has also been partof preliminary consultations with the Bio-sphere, a large Montreal-based public organiza-tion of Environment Canada devoted to increas-ing knowledge of the environment, water andecosystems, in particular those of the St. Law-rence River and the Great Lakes. Dr. Grahammentioned that he attended a briefing by ParksCanada on their plans to present a memoran-dum to cabinet.

Finally, Dr. Graham reminded the Com-mittee that the Federal Biosystematics Partner-ship continues to represent the Canadian posi-tion on the Global Biodiversity Information Fa-cility. A final agreement will be decided upon

Vol. 20, No. 1 9

in early December. A letter of invitation will besent to all countries and if by March 1, 2001there are 10 signatories (and substantial mem-bership fees) the GBIF will be launched (seehttp://www.gbif.org).

2. Eastern Cereal and Oilseed ResearchCentre, Agriculture and Agri-FoodCanada

Dr. Robert Foottit reported on the Cana-dian Biodiversity Network Conference, March1-4, 2001 in Ottawa, which is being organizedby Dr. Peter Hall. Dr. Scudder circulated a bro-chure [see:http://www.nrc.ca/confserv/biodiversity/] The

aim of the conference is to develop a position toalert the federal government that there is abiodiversity crisis in Canada. A position paper(drafted by Drs. Scudder and Smith) will bepresented at the conference outlining the stateof biosystematics in Canada.

Dr. Floate described the North Star Ini-tiative, whereby Agriculture Canada would aimat research that encompasses bio-fibre, alterna-tive fuels, pharmaceuticals, environmentalsustainability and so on as well as the process ofgrowing food. Public-good research is also partof this concept. Dr. Foottit explained thatECORC’s advisory committee will be meetingsoon and one of the issues will be staffing insystematics, given continued attrition.

3. Entomological Society of Canada

Dr. Robert Foot t i t , SocietyVice-President, reported that much activity iscurrently being focussed on the jointESC/ESA/SEQ meeting in December in Mon-treal. The program includes symposia on soilmites, aquatic insects, arthropods of grasslands,a meeting of the Coleopterists’ Society, and anumber of other topics related to systematicsand faunistics. He reported that the organiza-tion is progressing well. There will be a talk atthe joint meeting on the falling off of taxonomicsupport on a world scale. Dr. Hélène Chiassonnoted that there will be 70 symposia plus atleast 1000 posters and almost as many10-minute papers. There are at least 15 concur-rent sessions. The program starts Sunday morn-

ing and there are also meetings and presenta-tions in the evenings. The plenary session is onSunday night followed by a social event. Therewill also be a town hall meeting, mainly for theESA but relevant to all, to discuss how tochange the ways entomological societies arerun in order to encourage more participation, totake advantage of the electronic age, to preventfee increases, etc.

Dr. Foottit mentioned a letter from theAEAQ and the SEQ sent to Minister Andersonin the context of the Species at Risk legislation,concerning the importance of studies inbiodiversity and the need to support work inthese areas. These ideas are supported by theESC.

4. Parks Canada

Mr. Stéphane Greffard, Ecological As-sessment Officer, explained that the focus atParks Canada has been the implementation ofthe Report of The Panel on The Ecological In-tegrity of Canada’s National Parks. Some of thekey recommendations include making ecologi-cal integrity central in legislation and policy.The State of Parks report will soon be publishedgiving an overview of ecological integrity andbiodiversity in the Parks. Another focus is inbuilding partnerships with regional land man-agers (provincial, territorial, aboriginal, etc.).For example, new national Parks were estab-lished in Nunavut. A position of Executive Di-rector, Ecological Integrity has been estab-lished and Mr. Nik Lopoukhine has been ap-pointed to this position. There are also plans todevelop a national training and orientation pro-gram in ecological integrity for Parks Canadastaff and managers. A memorandum to cabinetto develop national science strategy for Parksfocuses on an improved science capacity withinParks and creating formal connections with uni-versities and other science-based agencies forresearch in Parks.

Mr. Greffard had forwarded the docu-ments sent by the Survey (about research inParks and permits for insect collections) afterthe last Scientific Committee meeting to the rel-evant personnel at Parks. With respect to re-search, he said that it might be possible to orga-


nize a meeting to coordinate projects but nofunds now are available for research. With re-spect to the permit process, Mr. Greffard ex-plained that ultimately each park establishes itsown policy.

Dr. Scudder pointed out that in B.C. theConservation Data Centre has just finishedmapping the occurrence of all the species at riskin B.C. and comparing areas that have been putaside for wildlife preservation. National (andprovincial) parks do not appear to show recordsof any of the species at risk – few studies havebeen done in Parks due to the difficulty in thepermit process. Therefore, on paper it appearsthat national parks are not serving their man-dated purpose of maintaining biodiversity andecological integrity.

5. Parasitology module, Canadian Society ofZoologists

Dr. David Marcogliese reported that theParasitology module’s main activities havebeen to produce EMAN protocols for the identi-fication of parasites of vertebrates. Additionalfascicles are in process. The national stickle-back parasite survey is now an internationalIBOY project and funding is being sought tosupport the project. Dr. David Cone hopes towrite up his work on the perch project this yearwhile he is on sabbatical. Dr. Marcogliese cir-culated a number of publications of interest tothe committee.

Dr. Marcogliese noted that the CanadianSociety of Zoologists will meet next May inSudbury. In 2002 the Parasitology section willhost the International Congress of Parasitologyin Vancouver. The 2002 meeting of the Cana-dian Society of Zoologists will be inLethbridge. Dr. Marcogliese noted that in a re-cent visit to the U.K. he saw a lot of new build-ing associated with natural history museums,largely as a result of the national policy of do-nating proceeds from lotteries to cultural orga-nizations including museums.

Other items

1. Reports on regional developments ofpotential interest

Information of interest to the Surveyfrom different regions of the country was pro-vided, including the following topics. In BritishColumbia, Dr. Scudder indicated that he is inthe last year of work on databasing and docu-menting sensitive species. A submission on pri-ority setting for biodiversity conservation inB.C. is being prepared, using georeferenceddata on some insects as well as other organismsto recommend how to set up an ideal conserva-tion system to handle both rarity and richness aswell as biogeoclimatic representation, and witha focus on land planning options. The SouthOkanagan - Similkameen Conservation Pro-gram (a coalition of 19 groups working to-gether) has received $1 million from the federalgovernment to help develop a land and resourcemanagement plan for the area [seehttp://www.bc.natureconservancy.ca/soscp/soscp/soscp.pdf]. Dr. Scudder reported that aChecklist of the Hemiptera of Canada andAlaska has been published. Other work onaphids and on mirids is in progress. Dr. Scudderalso circulated the first newsletter from a BCGrasslands coalition, with a view to integratingcattle grazing and conservation in a new way(“biodiversity ranching”). Dr. Ring reportedthat the annual meeting of the EntomologicalSociety of British Columbia will be held Octo-ber 20 in Victoria. Dr. Robb Bennett is compil-ing a new checklist of the spiders of British Co-lumbia and has started a new website for seedand cone insects through the BC Ministry ofForests (http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/TIP/IIG/).

In the prairies, Dr. Floate announcedthat Dr. Owen Olfert of the Agriculture andAgri-Food Canada Research Branch inSaskatoon won a federal government award fordeveloping pest distribution maps for the prai-ries and a collaborative GIS monitoring system.Dr. Roughley reported that the annual meetingof the Entomological Society of Manitoba willtake place the week of October 16. At the Uni-versity of Manitoba database work continues.The entomology faculty and 20 graduate stu-

Vol. 20, No. 1 11

dents in the department have a diversity of pro-jects. Dr. John Conroy, University of Winni-peg, died recently and much of the entomologi-cal work has fallen on Dr. Richard Westwoodwho is developing a large, well-supported for-estry project. The Conservation Data Centre inWinnipeg is cataloguing considerable insectdata by group.

In Ontario, Dr. Currie reported that theRoyal Ontario Museum has a new CEO - Mr.William Thorsell, former editor-in-chief of theGlobe and Mail, who seems to be steering themuseum back to more traditional museum val-ues. Master planning continues at the Museum.The work of databasing the collection contin-ues: the butterflies are nearing completion andwill be included in the Biota of Canada. TheBlackflies of North America book is now in thecost production phase. Dr. Chris Darling andDr. Sandy Smith have received a grant to workon the old growth white pine Haliburton forest,which has one of the longest canopy walkwaysin the world. Mr. John Swann has resigned fromthe ROM to complete his PhD thesis. Dr.Shorthouse reported that he has two graduatestudents in his laboratory at Laurentian Univer-sity including one studying parasitoids associ-ated with galls.

In Quebec, Dr. Wheeler reported thatmuch current activity is directed toward thejoint ESC/SEQ/ESA meeting. The Entomologi-cal Collections Network meeting, traditionallyheld in conjunction with the ESA meeting, willbe hosted by McGill University. Dr. Wheelerhopes that there will be a final hiring decisionon the Lyman Entomological Museum’s Cura-tor in the next two weeks. The Lyman Entomo-logical Museum and McGill Herbarium shareda grant from a private foundation to provide in-frastructure and personnel for databasing thecollections of the two museums. Continued an-nual funding is possible from the same founda-tion and good progress was made on this year’sinstallment. Dr. Chiasson reported that Dr.Noubar Bostanian, Agricul ture etAgroalimentaire Canada, has long done re-search on insects in apple orchards. He willpresent this research for the first time at the jointmeeting in December.

In Newfoundland and the Maritimes,Dr. Giberson reported that the annual meetingof the Acadian Entomological Society was heldrecently in Charlottetown. The meeting wasvery poorly attended. An emergency meetingwas held to discuss the reasons for such low at-tendance and ways to improve the organizationof the Society. Dr. Jeff Stewart, formerly a re-search scientist at Agriculture and Agri-FoodCanada in Charlottetown, has moved toLethbridge to take up a management position.Dr. Giberson reported that the fish kills that re-sulted from pesticide runoff into streams hadled to buffer-strip legislation. However, bufferstrips take time to grow, and fish kills continuedlast summer and remain a serious and contro-versial issue in PEI. The dragonflies of PEI pro-ject continues and Dr. Giberson is working withthe Atlantic Dragonfly Inventory Project,which meets on November 11 in New Bruns-wick. In the Maritimes an action committee forpesticides is organizing a system that canquickly be mobilized if West Nile virus is posi-tively identified. For the Arctic, Dr. Ring re-ported that he did field work this past summer atAlexandra Fiord with a senior undergraduatestudent, supported by the Northern ScientificTraining Program (NSTP). He circulated thelatest ITEX newsletter. Recently published is alarge monograph summarizing past ITEX workfrom all nations. Although ITEX work is thriv-ing much of it is supported by U.S. NationalScience Foundation funds and Canadian fund-ing is still poor. Dr. Olga Kukal and Ms. ValerieBennett continued their work on Ellesmere Is-land, mainly studying Gynaephora. Dr. Ringcirculated several publications of interest con-cerning northern species diversity and arctic ac-tivities. In particular, the report of the nationaltask force on northern research was published[see ftp://ftp.nserc.ca/pub/nserc_pdf/nor/cri-sis.pdf] with specific recommendations to re-build Canadian northern research, namely: toestablish 24 university research chairs dedi-cated to northern research; to create 40 northerngraduate scholarships and 40 postdoctoral fel-lowships; to support 70 strategic research pro-jects of high social, industrial or environmentalrelevance; to build partnerships between north-


The Canadian Biodiversity Network Conference

The Canadian Biodiversity NetworkConference, “Canada’s Natural Capital” washeld March 1 to 4, 2001 in Ottawa. The goal ofthe conference was to develop an action plan tocreate a national biodiversity network. The net-work will involve many partners working to-gether to expand and make electronically avail-able extensive information on Canada’s biota,from a strengthened base of facilities and per-sonnel for research, education and reference.

As well as a number of speakers at ple-nary sessions, workshops were held with theaim of developing a strategic plan outlining thesteps required to build Canada’s biodiversityscience and bioinformatics capacity.

Welcoming addresses were given byThe Honourable Lyle Vanclief, Minister of Ag-riculture and Agri-Food and The HonourableDavid Anderson, Minister of the Environment.The plenary sessions addressed such topics as

* International perspectives and experiences

* Biodiversity science networks and

capacities

* Bioinformatics needs and tools

The workshop themes were:

* Enhancing wildl i fe and habi ta t

conservation

* Improving sustainable resource

management

* Increasing the recogni t ion of the

importance of biodiversity to the economy

and Canadian society

* Integrating traditional knowledge

* Biodiversity aspects of human health

* Developing commercial opportunities

* Creating a biodiversity information value

system - ethics, intellectual property, etc.

* Education and the development of the

human resource component of the future

biodiversity agenda

* Management strategies for biodiversity

protection

* Data sharing - from naturalists to decision

makers: challenges and opportunities

More information on the conferenceand the Canadian Biodiversity Network, in-cluding speakers’ texts, can be found at:http://www.nrc.ca/confserv/biodiversity/.

Biological Survey Website update

http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/esc/bschome.htm

The Fall 2000 issue of this newsletterannounced the expansion of the Biological Sur-vey’s website. Since then some minor updateshave occurred such as adding the web versionof the Fall newsletter. More notably, the Anno-tated List of Workers on Systematics and

Faunistics of Canadian Insects and Certain Re-lated Groups has now gone live in the form of asearchable database. Because our current data-base was not designed for web usage some ofthe search engines (especially for taxa and eco-logical groups) are very slow. In the next year

ern communities and university researchers;and to provide funding for critical equipment,infrastructure and logistical needs.

2. Other matters

The Committee also considered otherrecent information on topics such as interna-

tional liaisons, membership of the ScientificCommittee, a brief on standards for specimendata labels, operations of the Biological SurveySecretariat, and recent Survey and other publi-cations of faunal interest.

Vol. 20, No. 1 13

Web watch: The E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum

http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/uasm/uasm.html

One of the purposes of this website is toprovide electronic access to the University ofAlberta’s Strickland Entomological Museum,one of the most significant insect collections inwestern Canada. The collection contains ap-

proximately one million specimens and is madeup of two sub-collections, the Research Collec-tion and the Alberta Reference Collection.

The Research Collection includes prin-cipally Nearctic insects, representing most or-ders and the major families thereof. The beetlefamily Carabidae is especially well repre-sented: included are about 400,000 specimensprincipally from the Nearctic region, but withan important Neotropical component, andfewer taxa from the remaining biogeographicalregions. The Research Collection also containsspecimens representing most of the species ofbutterflies and moths known from Alberta.

The website also contains interesting in-formation on the history of the Strickland Ento-mological Museum, information on staff andstudents, local entomological events, and vari-ous relevant links.

the Survey plans to overhaul this system. In themeantime we invite you to review your listingand submit updates or corrections. An onlineform is available for this purpose. You can alsocommunicate with us in the usual ways (see in-side front cover). Other comments or sugges-tions for the website are most welcome.

The Survey website is at: http://www.bi-ology.ualberta.ca/esc/bschome.htm. The An-notated List can be found by following themenu item ‘List of Workers (database)’.


Project Update - Arthropods of

Canadian Grasslands

Terry A. Wheeler

Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, Macdonald Campus,

Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC, H9X 3V9, [email protected]

The last project update on the GrasslandsProject in the Fall, 1999 Biological Survey

of Canada Newsletter (Vol. 18 (2): 57-59) pro-vided a brief history of the project and an out-line of the objectives. Since that time, the pro-ject has gathered momentum on several fronts.

Conference PresentationsAn Informal Conference entitled “Ar-

thropods of Grasslands: Current Status and Fu-ture Directions” was held at the Joint AnnualMeeting of the Entomological Societies ofAmerica / Canada / Quebec in Montreal in De-cember 2000. Four invited papers on grasslandarthropod research were presented:

� Canada’s Grasslands (Kevin Floate,Agricul ture and Agri-Food Canada,Lethbridge, Alberta)

� The use of fire as a biodiversity andconservation tool in tallgrass prairies (RobRoughley, Universi ty of Manitoba,Winnipeg, Manitoba)

� Diversi ty of Meromyza (Diptera:Chloropidae) in Canadian native grasslands(Terry Wheeler, McGill Universi ty,Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec)

� Endemism and dispersal of short-hornedbugs (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha) inPacific Northwest intermontane grasslands(Andy Hamilton, Agriculture and Agri-FoodCanada, Ottawa, Ontario)

Following the formal presentations,conference organizer Terry Wheeler gave abrief presentation on the history, current statusand objectives of the Grasslands Project. Thiswas followed by an open discussion on such is-sues as standardized sampling for ecological

studies, coordination of fieldwork efforts, andadditional collaborators. A more detailed sum-mary of the conference and articles on some ofthe issues raised during the discussion appearsin the 2001 issue of the Arthropods of CanadianGrasslands Newsletter.

The 2000 Annual Meeting of the Ento-mological Collections Network was held inMontreal in conjunction with the Joint AnnualMeeting. Terry Wheeler gave a presentation atthe ECN meeting entitled “Arthropods of Cana-dian Grasslands: A Biological Survey of Can-ada Megaproject”

Other PublicityThe grasslands project web page

[http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/esc.hp/bsc/eng-lish/grasslands.htm] has been added to the Bio-logical Survey of Canada website. The webpage contains information on the objectives ofthe project, a summary of research projects ingrasslands and on-line copies of all issues of theGrasslands Newsletter. Other information willbe added on a regular basis.

ResearchA list of recent and ongoing research

projects in Canadian grasslands is maintainedon the Project web page.

Field research by individual collabora-tors continues on several taxa, in grassland sitesacross the west. As samples from such studiesaccumulate, residues and collections will be-come an increasingly valuable source of speci-mens. One way to take advantage of this mate-rial is the establishment of a residue sorting net-work. A preliminary discussion of this networkappears in the 2001 issue of the Arthropods ofGrasslands Newsletter. It may also be helpful to

Vol. 20, No. 1 15

establish a database of the ever-expandingholdings of grassland arthropods in researchcollections. One of the anticipated products ofthe grasslands project is the compilation ofelectronic databases of material housed in col-lections; this will facilitate future research andexchange of material.

Although individual fieldwork will con-tinue at several sites, a more ambitious effort isbeing coordinated by Rob Roughley (Univer-sity of Manitoba) to assemble a team of collec-tors for a field meeting based in Onefour, Al-berta during late June or early July 2001. Thelocation will provide access to a diverse rangeof grassland habitats from the dry prairie andbadlands around Onefour and the Milk RiverValley to the considerably more boreal habitatsof the Cypress Hills. Those interested in partici-pating in this field meeting should contact RobRoughley ([email protected]).

FundingFunding is a major concern for a project

of this scope. Although traditional researchgrants will support the activities of individual

collaborators, support for more collaborativeendeavours as well as publication and dissemi-nation costs will require a more imaginative ap-proach. A funding group headed by KevinFloate has been exploring avenues of supportfor the project.

Upcoming PrioritiesA formal symposium on Ecology of Ar-

thropods in Canadian Grasslands is planned forthe 2002 Entomological Society of Canada An-nual Meeting in Winnipeg. The focus of thesymposium will be ecological and habitat basedstudies on selected grasslands or taxa. We envi-sion that the papers presented at the symposiumwill form the core chapters of a published vol-ume on ecology of grassland arthropods to bepublished as soon as possible after the sympo-sium. Although some symposium contributorsand chapter authors have already been ap-proached, additional authors and chapter titlesare still welcome. Anyone with additional sug-gestions for titles, or requiring more informa-tion, should contact the symposium organizer,Terry Wheeler.

Photo by K. Floate


The Quiz Page

— test your knowledge of Canada and its fauna —

1. Give the approximate elevations above mean sea level of:

Vancouver, BC

Toronto, Ontario

Ottawa/Hull, Ontario/Quebec

Montreal, Quebec

Calgary, Alberta

2. The dry valleys and south facing slopes of central British Columbia are

characterized by bunch grasses and, depending on location, by several

drought-resistant shrubs, the common names of which all end with the same

syllable — name three of them.

3. In a series of generic names of Canadian terrestrial arthropods that increase

progressively by one syllable (i.e. one-syllable name, two-syllable name,

three-syllable name, etc.), how many syllables can you reach (if this exercise is too

easy, confine yourself to one order or family).

4. What are the normal foods of the following species or groups:

a) mosquito larvae

b) adult female mosquitoes

c) hawk moths

d) Cecropia moths

e) flea larvae

f) shore bugs

g) stink bugs

h) lygaeid bugs

5. Concentration corner: This question requires concentration and a numerical

answer.

Read the following passage only once without looking back or ahead and then go

to the Answers Page and respond to the question there.

Houseflies are being swatted in an infested barn by several technicians, each of

whom makes a deposit in a pile in a dish. Unfortunately some of the flies are only

stunned, and so they recover and leave the pile again. One technician starts the

pile with 17 flies but 5 recover and leave. Another adds 12 to the pile but 7 soon

recover. Successive technicians catch 7 flies while 3 leave, and 11 flies while only

one leaves. Another technician catches 20 flies but all but one recover. Twelve

flies are added to the pile and 4 leave. The final technician adds 5 flies to the pile

but none escape.

[Answers on p. 26]

Arctic Corner

Vol. 20, No. 1 17

ARCTIC Corner

News about studies of arctic insects

Introduction

Recently the Biological Survey’s newsletter Arctic Insect News was discontinued. Despite some sup-port chiefly in theory for arctic initiatives in Canada, research in arctic entomology has remained

strictly limited, by restricted funding, by additional permit requirements and more complex permit pro-cedures, and by a lack of personnel. Moreover, much of the content of Arctic Insect News was comingfrom overseas.

Instead of publishing a separate newsletter, therefore, Canadian arctic interests will now be sup-ported by including relevant submissions in this section of the main BSC newsletter. Contributions toArctic Corner are welcomed by the Editor (see inside front cover).

Arctic Insects, Global Warming and the ITEX Program

Dr. Richard A. Ring, University of Victoria, Biology Department, Victoria, BC Canada V8W 3N5,[email protected]

IntroductionThe International Tundra Experiment

(ITEX) was established in late 1990 at a meet-ing of tundra ecologists as a response to predic-tions that human-enhanced greenhouse warm-ing would occur earliest and to the greatest de-gree at highest latitudes. The initial objectivewas to monitor phenology, growth, and repro-duction in major vascular plant species in re-sponse to climate variations and environmentalmanipulations at sites throughout the tundrabiome. This large-scale field experiment in theArctic was planned to be a long-term collabora-tive research effort by scientists from ninecountries working at 26 research sites to exam-ine the effects of enhanced summer warming ontundra vegetation. Investigators use a commonexperimental design, study a common set ofspecies, and monitor common parameters of theecosystem. Small, translucent, fibreglassopen-top chambers (OTCs) are utilized to pas-

sively increase summer temperature, and thesehave proved effective in stimulating predictedclimatic warming in Arctic environments.

The experiment was initiated by the con-clusions of the Global Circulation Models ofthe time that predicted mean summer tempera-tures in northern regions would increase by 1.5ºto 4.5ºC by the year 2030 (Mitchell et al. 1990).Indeed, these predictions now seem moderatecompared to the analyses of current Global Cir-culation Models (Hengeveld, 2000). Such dras-tic climate change in so sensitive an area as thehigh Arctic could have a major impact not onlyon plant life but also on the arthropod fauna(Strathdee et al. 1993).

The effects of OTCs on insects and oninsect/plant interactions have, therefore, beenstudied within the ITEX context. Insect speci-mens have been collected from six ecologicallydistinct plant communities at Alexandra Fiord,


Arctic Corner

a polar oasis on Ellesmere Island in Nunavut.The four main emphases of the program are:

(1) general collecting of actively flyinginsects by the use of Malaise flight-intercepttraps at two of these sites on the lowlands,

(2) a comparison of the insect faunawithin and without (i.e. control) the OTCs usingyellow pitfall traps,

(3) since OTCs have physical effectssuch as excluding flying insects (many of whichare known pollinators of arctic flowers), a com-parison of the frequency of likely pollinatorsboth within and without the OTCs using yellowpitfall traps, and

(4) an analysis of the direct effects of theOTCs on insect development and phenology,mainly within the soil micro-arthropods.

SiteAlexandra Fiord is a small (c. 8 km

2)

lowland valley on the East Coast of EllesmereIsland in Nunavut, a Canadian Territory (78º53� N; 75º 55� W) (Fig. 1). It is located approxi-mately halfway up the eastern coast ofEllesmere Island near the transition from theexposed bedrock of the Canadian Shield to ayounger sequence of sedimentary deposits. Thelowland is near the mouth of Alexandra Fiord

which deeply dissects the eastern coast ofEllesmere about 70 km south of Sverdrup Passand 60 km west of Greenland. The AlexandraFiord Lowland represents a terrestrial arcticoasis that is generally characterized by elevatedsummer temperatures and higher moisture lev-els compared to the surrounding “arctic desert”.The lowland’s physiography is largely respon-sible for the less inclement conditions; it is aperiglacial outwash surrounded by steep moun-tains on all sides except to the north, which bor-ders the sea (Fig. 2). Snow cover on the sur-rounding scree slopes and glaciers tends to re-flect solar radiation into the lowland, increasingits temperature while the surrounding edges actas a wind foil. Water collected from glacialtongues, which spill out of the Ellesmere icecap, drains through the gently sloping lowlandand irrigates it through a network of small chan-nels before flowing into the fiord. The lowlandvalley has a milder climate than surrounding ar-eas, and is a good example of a high arctic oasis.The mean July temperature is 5.1ºC comparedto an average of 4.4ºC for the surrounding “arc-tic desert” regions (Freedman et al. 1994). Inaddition to the increased temperatures, the to-pography of Alexandra Fiord allows a greateravailability of moisture within the valley basin.Glacial and niveal runoff provides a source ofground water, which is highly restricted else-where in the high arctic. The plant and insectcommunities are consequently much richer inthe Fiord lowland than in adjacent areas. Or-ganisms are limited elsewhere by water andtemperature constraints, which are eased some-what in polar oases (Downes 1964). The clima-tic effects allow a greater diversity of species aswell as a greater productivity to exist on thelowlands. The high relative abundance of or-ganisms found in Alexandra Fiord compared tosurrounding areas lends the area to the study ofglobal change scenarios (Danks 1992).

Results and Discussion

(1) Malaise Trapping and Diversity

There is a relatively high diversity of in-sects for this latitude at Alexandra Fiord, com-parable with other high arctic oases on

Fig. 1

Arctic Corner

Vol. 20, No. 1 19

Ellesmere Island (Oliver 1963; Brodo 2000).Over 20,000 specimens were sorted from twolocations, comprising 4 orders (Homoptera,Lepidoptera, Diptera, and Hymenoptera), 24families, and well over 50 species. Insect abun-dance was highest in “mid-summer” (earlyJuly), and distinct phenological and abundancepatterns were found in the two collection sites atthe family, species, and sex level. Ten familiesof insects were found to be significantly differ-ent in total number (all collection dates com-bined) , and 4 were highly abundant(Chironomidae, Culicidae, Icheumonidae, andEmpididae), showing obvious phenologicaltrends over the short growing season.

The insect fauna is dominated by theDiptera, especially the Chironomidae, which isnot unexpected for the high arctic (Danks1981). However, there was a surprising abun-dance of Empididae and Dolichopodidae,which are predators on other insects. The twospecies of mosquitoes (Aedes impiger andAedes nigripes), were also seasonally abundantand showed some interesting trends even at thesex level. Males emerged earlier at both sites,but female abundance was much greater at the

wet “Sedge Meadow” site later in July - impor-tant information for the ITEX workers carryingout their plant growth measurements! The mainfungal feeding insects (Sciaridae andMycetophilidae) were also present in moderatenumbers, an observation supported by the num-ber of mushrooms and other fungi collected inthe lowlands.

Among the Hymenoptera, the insectparasitoids Ichneumonidae were the mostspeciose and abundant. Again, this is not unex-pected considering the large number of poten-tial hosts in Alexandra Fiord - caterpillars anddipteran larvae. Other authors have also found avery high rate of parasitism (up to 75%) whenexamining the relationships between thelymantriid caterpillars of Gynaephoragroenlandica and G. rossi i and theirparasitoids, lending support to this observation.Although very few Lepidoptera were ever re-trieved from the trap samples, this is morelikely due to a factor in the trap design, becausenumerous butterflies and moths were collectedin the attractive yellow pitfall traps in the samelocalities during the latter half of July. NoColeoptera were collected by the Malaise traps.

Fig. 2The lowland with ITEX set-up


Arctic Corner

(2) Indirect Effects of OTCs.

Field studies employ OTCs to modifyone or more environmental variables in order toexamine the responses of enclosed plants andinsects. Unfortunately, such experimental de-vices have the potential to produce unwantedenvironmental consequences or otherwise in-fluence biotic interactions in ways that interferewith the intended experimental agenda. Insectcollections from within and without OTCs atAlexandra Fiord indicate a consistent trend forlarger numbers of insects to be trapped in con-trol plots relative to the OTCs (Fig. 3). Differ-ences among insect pollinators in particular,from both within and without the OTCs, havebeen compared and contrasted. Lepidoptera andDiptera are present in almost equal overallabundance, but significant differences havebeen found between insect pollinators collectedin OTC plots versus control plots for some fam-ilies (Fig. 4). Mean numbers of Lepidoptera persite suggest a 32-fold overall decrease withinthe OTCs. OTCs do not significantly affect theabundance of the majority of Diptera families,but Bombus specimens are found only in con-trol plots.

Dipterans predominate in the samples,both in terms of overall abundance and numberof families represented. Few specimens of othermajor orders are present , except forLepidoptera. Of the Dipterans, the Muscoideapredominate within the samples. Species in thissuperfamily are important pollinators sincethey feed on nectar and have been shown tocarry pollen among High Arctic flowers. Theseresults indicate that reduced pollen depositionin some plant taxa and reduced pollinator visitsin OTCs have the potential to influence plantspecies which are highly dependent upon out-crossing for successful seed production.

(3) Direct Effects Of OTCs

Observations on the arctic woolly bearGynaephora groenlandica collected in recentyears at Alexandra Fiord contradict some of thelife-history information previously publishedfor this species at the same site. Detailed analy-sis of larval head capsule width measurementsand consideration of growth ratios indicate thatthere are 7 rather than 6 larval instars. Also,both field and laboratory-rearing indicate thatlarvae moult once per year, every year. Thesedata and observations greatly simplify thelife-history from that previously published, and

Fig. 3

Arctic Corner

Vol. 20, No. 1 21

suggest a life cycle of 7 rather than 14 years. Inaddition, growth, development, and behaviourwere monitored for individual G. groenlandicalarvae confined within both experimental andcontrol corrals. Larvae were observed muchmore frequently within OTCs than within con-trol plots, suggesting that they prefer thewarmer conditions. Larvae confined withinOTCs showed a shift in seasonal phenology(Fig. 6), corresponding with an earliersnowmelt, but the length of their active perioddid not differ significantly from that of larvae incontrol corrals. All larvae accomplished thesame degree of development, namely a singlemoult; however, measurements of fresh bodymass suggest higher average growth ratesamong larvae in OTCs versus controls (Fig. 6).These results also indicate that the warmingproduced by OTCs does not affect overall gen-eration time for G. groenlandica, but does pro-duce slightly larger individuals.

Although there is no evidence of signifi-cant direct effects of OTC warming on woollybear caterpillar growth and development, thereare some interesting trends that are obvious andshould be monitored over successive years intothe future. Even small changes in phenologyand growth (as measured here) could, when

multiplied from year to year, eventually havesignificant effects on the life cycle of this spe-cies.

(4) Soil Micro-Arthropods

The results for soil micro-organismsfrom soil cores in Alexandra Fiord are very pre-liminary, and further studies continue. The key,or indicator, species are found among the mitesand Collembola, but individual species havenot yet been identified. Wingless Thysanoptera,and perhaps other less well-represented taxa,may also be useful indicators in global warmingscenarios in the High Arctic.

A great deal of variability was foundwithin each site, making comparisons amongsites difficult. The Willow Site produced agreater number of individuals, both within andwithout the OTCs. This site was also the onlyone where Thysanoptera were represented.Without the OTCs, all Thysanoptera foundwere developmentally immature, while thosewithin the OTCs were mature. Also, within theOTCs, Diptera larvae were conspicuously ab-sent. Oribatids were generally not common, al-though they were dominant in one sample fromwithin an OTC. Some of the most abundant soilmites identified were: Trichoribates polaris

Fig. 4


Arctic Corner

Ceratozetidae immatures, Iugoribates gracilis,Liochthonius sellnicki, Cyta latirostris,Moritzoppia clavigera, Epidamaeus sp. nearlongitarsalis, and Hermannia scabra. At everysite, the most abundant categories includedboth “other mites” and Collembola sp. 1.Abundance of Thysanoptera, Diptera, preda-tory mites, and oribatids was relatively low.Collembola sp. 2 was common only in the Wil-low Site.

The main differences among the sam-ples from within the OTCs were the develop-mental maturity of the Thysanoptera and theabsence of the Diptera. The maturity ofThysanoptera was probably a direct result ofthe increased temperature. It has been demon-strated that thrips reach maturity faster at ahigher temperature. One Finnish thrips,Limnothrips denticornis, when raised at a tem-perature of 25°C, will reach maturity in half thetime required by wild populations. This in-creased rate of maturation could have an effecton the reproductive abilities of arctic thrips in awarmer climate. In many thrips, the number ofeggs laid and generations per annum are de-

pendent on temperature. Furthermore, miteshave been shown to be more resistant to climatechange than collembolans (Coulsen et al. 1996;Hodkinson et al. 1996). Therefore, if climatechange leads to significantly drier conditions inthe High Arctic, mites would be expected to be-come more abundant in the soil.

AcknowledgmentsI wish to thank the many students who

have been involved in insect studies atAlexandra Fiord over the last decade, includingDean Morewood, Adrian DeBruyn, JeffLemieux, Jason Spears, James Miskelly andGreg Pierce. A special thanks to Dr. GregHenry, U.B.C., for his knowledge of the ITEXProgram and sharing his facilities at the re-search station in Alexandra Fiord. I gratefullyacknowledge NSERC for their continued finan-cial support, P.C.S.P. for their invaluable logis-tic support, and the NSTP Program for support-ing most of the above-named students.

Fig. 5

Arctic Corner

Vol. 20, No. 1 23

Selected ReferencesBrodo, F. 2000. The insects, mites and spiders of Hot

Weather Creek, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut. pp. 145-173

in M. Garneau and T.B. Alt. (eds.), Environmental Re-

sponse to Climate Change in the Canadian High Arctic,

Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 529.

Coulson S.J., I.D. Hodkinson, N.R. Webb, W. Block, J.S.

Bale, A.T. Strathdee, M.R. Worland and C. Woolley.

1996. Effects of experimental temperature elevation on

high Arctic soil microarthropod populations. Polar Biol-

ogy 16: 147-153.

Danks, H.V. 1981. Arctic Arthropods: A Review of System-

atics and Ecology with Particular Reference to the North

American Fauna. Entomological Society of Canada, Ot-

tawa, Ontario. 608 pp.

Danks, H.V. 1992. Arctic insects as indicators of environ-

mental change. Arctic 45: 159-166.

Downes, J.A. 1964. Arctic insects and their environment.

Canadian Entomologist 96: 279-307.

Freedman, B., J. Svoboda and G.H.R. Henry. 1994.

Alexandra Fiord - an ecological oasis in the polar desert.

pp. 1-9 in J. Svoboda and B. Freedman (eds.), Ecology of

a Polar Oasis: Alexandra Fiord, Ellesmere Island, Can-

ada. Captus University Publications, Toronto, Ontario.

Hengeveld, H.G. 2000. Projections for Canada’s Climate

Future. Climate Change Digest, CCD 00-01. Environ-

ment Canada, Ottawa. 27 pp.

Hodkinson I.D., S.J. Coulson, N.R. Webb and W. Block.

1996. Can high Arctic soil microarthropods survive ele-

vated summer temperatures? Functional Ecology 10:

314-321.

Kukal, O. 1990. Energy budget for activity and growth of a

high-arctic insect, Gynaephora groenlandica (Wocke)

(Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae). pp. 485-510 in C.R. Har-

rington (ed), Canada’s Missing Dimension: Science and

History in the Canadian Arctic Islands, Vol. II. Canadian

Museum of Nature, Ottawa, Ontario.

Mitchell, J.F.B., S. Manabe, V. Meleshko and T. Tokioka.

1990. Equilibrium climate change - and its implications

for the future. pp. 131-172 in J.T.Houghton, G.J. Jenkins,

and J.J. Ephraums (eds.), Climate Change: The IPCC Sci-

entific Assessment. Cambridge University Press, New

York.

Oliver, D.R. 1963. Entomological studies in the Lake Hazen

area, Ellesmere Island, including lists of species of

Arachnida, Collembola and Insecta. Arctic 16: 175-180.

Strathdee, A.T., J.S. Bale, W.C. Block, N.R. Webb, I.D.

Hodkinson and S.J. Coulson. 1993. Extreme adaptive

life-cycle in a high arctic aphid Acyrthosiphon

svalbardicum. Ecological Entomology 18: 254-258.

Svoboda, J. and B. Freedman (eds.). 1994. Ecology of a Polar

Oasis: Alexandra Fiord, Ellesmere Island, Canada.

Captus University Publications, Toronto, Ontario. 268

pp.

Fig. 6


Selected Future Conferences

Organization Date Place Contact

Entomological Conferences

Entomological Society of Canada 2001, 21-24 Oct. Niagara Falls, ON (with the Entomological Society of

Ontario) Dr. Cynthia Scott-Dupree,

Dept. of Environmental Biology,

University of Guelph, Guelph, On-

tario N1G 2W1

[email protected]

2002 Winnipeg, MB (with the Entomological Society of

Manitoba) Robert Lamb, Scientific

Program Chair, [email protected]

Entomological Society of America 2001, 9-13 Dec. San Diego, CA ESA, 9301 Annapolis Rd., Lanham,

MD 20706-3115; [email protected]

2002, 10-15 Dec. Philadelphia, PA ESA, see above

7th International Symposium on

Thysanoptera

2001, 2-7 July Reggio Calabria,

Italy

http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/aep/thri

ps2001

Dr. R. Marullo, Dipartimento di

Agrochimica ed Agrobiologia,

Università degli Studi di Reggio

Calabria, Piazza San Francesco di

Sales N. 4 I-89061, Gallina (Reggio

Calaria), Italy; [email protected]

15th International Symposium of

Odonatology

2001, 10-14 July Novosibirsk,

Siberia, Russia

Dr Oleg Kosterin, Institute of Cytol-

ogy and Genetics of the Siberian

Branch of the Russian Acad. Sci.,

Lavrentiev Ave. 10 RUS - 630090,

Novosibirsk, Russia; Tel / Fax:

383-(2) 33-12-7833-34-66, E-mail:

[email protected]

2nd WDA International Sympo-

sium of Odonatology

2001, 22-27 July Gällivare, Sweden Dr. Göran Sahlén, Systematic Zool-

ogy, Evolutionary Biology Centre,

Uppsala University, Norbyvägen 18d,

SE-752 36 Uppsala, Sweden;

[email protected]

International Joint Meeting of X

International Conference on

Ephemeroptera and XIV Interna-

tional Symposium on Plecoptera

2001, 5-11 Aug. Perugia, Italy http://olympus.unipg.it/maystone/in-

dex.htm

2001 International Joint Meeting,

Dipartimento di Biologia Animale ed

Ecologia, via Elce di Sotto, 06123,

Perugia (Italy); [email protected]

Vol. 20, No. 1 25

Organization Date Place Contact

International Conference on

Orthopteroid Insects

2001, 19-22

Aug.

Montpellier,

France

http://os2001.cirad.fr or

Le Corum, service Congrès, Es-

planade Charles de Gaulle, B.P.

2200 - 34027 Montpellier cedex

1, France

[email protected]

5e

Conference Internationale

Francophone d’Entomologie

(CIFE) and Société

d’entomologie du Québec

2002, 14-18

July

Montréal,

Québec

Dr. Daniel Coderre,

Département des Sciences

Biologiques, Université du Qué-

bec à Montréal, C.P. 888, Succ.

Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec,

H3C 3P8

[email protected]

XXII International Congress

of Entomology

2004, 15-20

Aug.

Brisbane,

Australia

Jim Cullen, CSIRO Entomology,

[email protected]

Myron Zalucki, University of

Queensland, Australia

[email protected]

Collections / Museums / Systematics

Association of Systematics Col-

lections Annual Meeting

2001, 8-9

June

Chicago, IL Association of Systematics Col-

lections, 1725 K Street NW,

Suite 601;Washington, DC

20006-1401; [email protected]

Society for the Preservation of

Natural History Collections

Annual Meeting

2001, 21-26

June

San Fran-

cisco, CA

Jean DeMouthe, California

Academy of Sciences,

Golden Gate Park, San Fran-

cisco, CA 94118

[email protected]

Other subjects (especially those relevant to Survey projects)

North American Benthological

Society 48th Annual Meeting

2001, 3-8

June

LaCrosse,

Wisconsin

http://www.benthos.org/Meet-

ing/

William B. Richardson, Program

Co-Chair, USGS, Upper Mid-

west Environ. Science Center,

2630 Fanta Reed Road,

La Crosse, WI 54603; Wil-

[email protected]


Answers to Faunal Quiz

[See page 16]

1. The approximate elevations above mean sea level of these cities, which are the

five largest in Canada, are:

Vancouver: 2 metres

Toronto: 35 metres

Ottawa/Hull: 38 metres

Montreal: 17 metres

Calgary: 329 metres

2. Common names of drought-resistant shrubs in dry valleys and south-facing

slopes of central British Columbia include:

Sagebrush (Artemisia species)

Antelopebrush (Purshia tridentata)

Rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus species)

3. There are many possibilities for a sequence of generic names increasing

progressively by one syllable, e.g. Sphex (1), Aphis (2), Colias (3),

Dendroctonus (4), Conocephalus (5), Stictochironomus (6), Parapegomyia (7),

Heterotrissocladius (8).

The longer names usually have prefixes, as in Heterosminthurus and

Oligophlebodes (6), Paraleptophlebia and Eobrachychthonius (7), for example.

4. a) The normal food of mosquito larvae is bacteria.

b) Adult female mosquitoes feed on blood and nectar.

c) Hawk moths typically take nectar of crepuscular flowers with deep corollas

such as honeysuckle.

d) Cecropia moth adults, like other saturniids, do not feed.

e) The food of flea larvae varies according to species but ranges from detritus

and host by-products to other arthropods.

f) Shore bugs prey on other insects.

g) Stink bugs, depending on the species, feed on plant material, other insects or

both.

h) Most lygaeids feed on seeds.

5. Concentration corner

Answer the question: How many technicians are there?

(Most responses to this question suggest that people tend to concentrate at any

one time on the most obvious possibility, a potential danger in experiments.)

Vol. 20, No. 1 27

Quips and Quotes

Only dead fish swim with the stream. (Anon.)

What’s another word for thesaurus? (Steven Wright)

Time lines

Time is a file that wears and makes no noise. (English proverb)

Lose an hour in the morning and you’ll be all day hunting for it. (Proverb)

Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity. (Bruyère)

Time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening at once. (Anon.)

The future isn’t what it used to be. (Anon.)

The butterfly counts not months but momentsand has time enough. (Rabindrath Tagore – Fireflies, 1928)

Two former biologists play at dice. In the center of the table there are several banknotes from a prize they had won a

few years before they dropped out of science. The rule of the game is that each player gets a banknote whenever

he correctly predicts how many throws it will take after throwing a 6 to throw the next 6. One of the two players,

a former theoretical biologist, remembers that the frequency of throwing a 6 is one in six, so he always foretells

that the waiting period will be 6. The other player’s cause for failing in science was opposite: he believed in

superstitions. As his lucky number is three, he guesses after each 6 that the next 6 will occur three throws later.

Which of the two fellows will recover more from the prize money? And is there a waiting period that could be

predicted that would make more money?

[Abstract from: K. Basler 2000. Waiting periods, instructive signals and positional information. EMBO Journal

19(6): 1169-1175]

Bargain basement

I wish people who have trouble communicating would just shut up. (Tom Lehrer)


List of Requests for Material or

Information Required for Studies of the

Canadian Fauna 2001

This list is intended to facilitate cooperation among entomologists by encouraging those who visitsuitable areas while engaged in other studies to collect material of particular interest to workers

elsewhere. Similar lists that were circulated in previous years prompted the transmission of several use-ful sets of material, and the efforts of the various cooperators were much appreciated.

Minimum data requested with all specimens are, of course, locality, date, collector and habitat.

(**denotes address reference; listed on page 36)

Material

Requested

Areas of

Interest

Collecting Methods,

Notes

Name of

Requester

**

1 Acari (free living

and parasitic terres-

trial and aquatic

mites)

Anywhere, but es-

pecially subarctic

and arctic Canada,

Canadian grass-

lands

Berlese-Tullgren funnel extraction

from subaquatic substrates, from

grasses and sedges, and from bird

and mammal nests, would be espe-

cially fruitful (preserve in 75%

ethanol +5% glycerine).

V.M.

Behan-Pelletier; E.E.

Lindquist; I.M.

Smith

1

2 Adelgidae

(conifer woolly

aphids)

Anywhere Preserve insects and bark, needles

or galls in 70% ethanol. Specimen

records and host plant records.

R. Foottit 1

3 Aleyrodidae

(whiteflies)

North America Preserve insects and host plant ma-

terial in 70% ethanol. Adults may

be dried. Specimen records and

host plant records. (Canadian Na-

tional Collection deficient in all

species, including pest species).

R. Foottit 1

4 Anthomyiidae North America Specimens with biological data

(especially reared specimens) in

the genera Strobilomyia (conifer

cone maggots), Lasiomma (larvae

mainly in dung or bird nests), Egle

(larvae in willow and poplar cat-

kins), Chirosia (incl. Pycnoglossa)

(larvae phytophagous in ferns),

and Acrostilpna (biology un-

known).

G.C.D. Griffiths 2

Vol. 20, No. 1 29

Material

Requested

Areas of

Interest

Collecting Methods,

Notes

Name of

Requester

**

5 Anthomyzidae New World Adults from any habitat, but

often associated with

graminoids. Preservation in

70% ethanol preferred.

Maliase and especially pan

trap residues are acceptable

and valuable. General descrip-

tion of herbaceous cover and

soil moisture advantageous.

K.N. Barber 3

6 Aphididae

(aphids)

Anywhere Preserve in 70% ethanol.

Specimen records and host

plant records.

R. Foottit 1

7 Asilidae

(robber flies)

North Amer-

ica

Pinned adults. R.A. Cannings 4

8 Braconidae Anywhere Pointed or in ethanol. M. Sharkey 5

9 Bumble bees Anywhere in

Canada

Include floral host if any. Col-

lect and preserve dry (but

specimens that have already

been put into ethanol are ac-

ceptable).

R.C. Plowright 6

10 Butterflies

(see also 34)

Arctic Preserve papered or pinned

(collecting / preserving infor-

mation supplied on request)

[for Alaska Lepidoptera Sur-

vey]

K.W. Philip 7

11 Ceratopogonidae Anywhere in

Canada

Send in fully topped-up vials

of 70% ethanol. Reared mate-

rial is especially valuable; pro-

vide type of substrate or habi-

tat if material is reared.

A. Borkent 8

12 Cercopidae

(froghoppers,

spittlebugs)

Canada and

Alaska

Specimens (preferably not in

ethanol if possible), records

and host records.

K.G.A. Hamil-

ton

1

13 Chalcidoids,

especially

Eupelmidae

Holarctic Incl. sweep-net samples (see

also 43) (collect into ethanol).

Reared material is especially

useful.

G.A.P. Gibson 1

14 Chironomidae:

Larsia

(Tanypodinae)

Nearctic and

Palearctic

fresh waters

Reared material preferred but

will accept all stages in etha-

nol or on slides.

B. Bilyj 9

15 Chironomidae:

Eukiefferiella,

Tvetenia

(Orthocladiinae)

All areas, es-

pecially On-

tario

Include sampling method,

habitat information.

W.B. Morton 10


Material

Requested

Areas of

Interest

Collecting Methods,

Notes

Name of

Requester

**

16 Chrysomelidae

(leaf beetles)

Anywhere, but

especially in Can-

ada

Mounted or unmounted and pre-

served in acetic alcohol (70 etha-

nol: 25 water: 5 parts glacial acetic

acid). Include accurate (species

level) host plant information.

L. LeSage 1

17 Cicadellidae

(leafhoppers)

Canada and Alaska Specimens (preferably not in etha-

nol), records and host records.

K.G.A. Hamilton 1

18 Coccoidea

(scale insects)

North

America

Preserve insect and host plant ma-

terial in 70% ethanol. Specimen

records and host plant records.

R. Foottit 1

19 Coleoptera

(adults or

immatures)

Canada For teaching. Material from mass

collections accepted. (Kill larvae

in boiling water removed from the

heating element, let cool and trans-

fer to 70% ethanol.)

Y.H. Prévost 11

20 Coleoptera

(identified)

Northern

Canada

Will collect S. Ont. in exchange;

has N.W.T. duplicates to exchange

for identification.

A. Morgan 12

21 Curculionidae

(weevils)

Anywhere, but es-

pecially northern

Canada

Adults can be pinned, pointed, or

preserved in ethanol. Record host

plant information if possible.

D.E. Bright 1

22 Cynipidae: insect

galls from domestic

and wild roses

Anywhere Maturing to mature galls. Remove

galls from plants and place in plas-

tic bags. Try to segregate galls of

different species. Preserve any

emergents in 70% ethanol.

J.D. Shorthouse 13

23 Dermaptera:

Forficula

auricularia

(perce-oreille

européen / European

earwig)

Amérique du Nord

et autres régions si

possible

A sec ou dans l’alcool. J.C. Tourneur 14

24 Diprionidae

(diprionid sawflies)

North America Living diprionid sawflies of any

species, identified or unidentified.

Record foodplant. Contact in ad-

vance about shipping.

L. Packer 15

25 Dytiscidae

(predaceous diving

beetles)

Canada, Alaska

and northern USA

Adults and larvae; adults should be

pinned or if in ethanol preliminar-

ily sorted.

D.J. Larson 16

26 Eupelmidae:

Anastatus

North America Reared materials with associated

sexes are particularly important,

regardless how few in number.

G.A.P. Gibson 1

27 Formicidae (ants) Anywhere Record type of habitat and nest

site. Include brood if possible (pre-

serve in ethanol).

A. Francoeur 17

Vol. 20, No. 1 31

Material

Requested

Areas of

Interest

Collecting Methods,

Notes

Name of

Requester

**

28 Fungal pathogens

of insects (esp. of

deuteromycetes

and ascomycetes)

Anywhere Place any fungus-infected

specimens in a vial. (Identifi-

cation of the fungus available

on request.)

D. Strongman 18

29 Halictidae

(sweat bees)

brown and

black spp. only

North America Particularly from blueberries.

Pinned or preserved. Include

flower record if available.

L. Packer 15

30 Hemiptera:

Heteroptera

(bugs)

Anywhere Aquatic and semi-aquatic

Heteroptera from acid waters

(an indication of pH would be

useful). Terrestrial

Heteroptera from bogs. Pre-

serve in ethanol.

G.G.E. Scudder 19

31 Insects on snow Especially

western moun-

tains

Chionea (Tipulidae), Boreus

(Mecoptera), Capniidae

(Plecoptera): preserve in 70%

ethanol.

S. Cannings 20

32 Isoptera (ter-

mites)

N. America

incl. Mexico

Preserve in 75% ethanol; try

to collect as many soldiers as

possible.

T.G. Myles 21

33 Leiodidae

(=Leptodiridae)

Northern for-

est and tundra

areas; prairies

and grasslands

Most easily collected by win-

dow traps or flight intercept

traps; and car nets (Can. Ent.

124: 745, 1992) (collect into

ethanol).

S.B. Peck 22

34 Lepidoptera

(see also 10)

Arctic For revisionary work on the

holarctic fauna.

J.D. Lafontaine 1

35 Lepidoptera Manitoulin Is-

land and sur-

rounding

islands

Records for use in monograph

of the region. Information on

old records from collections

would be particularly wel-

come.

J.K. Morton 23

36 Lygaeidae Anywhere Material can be collected in

ethanol.

G.G.E. Scudder 19

37 Mallophaga Anywhere Preserve specimens in 70%

ethanol; host species is ex-

tremely important.

T.D. Galloway 24


Material

Requested

Areas of

Interest

Collecting Methods,

Notes

Name of

Requester

**

38 Microlepidoptera

(excluding Pyralidae

and Tortricidae)

North America,

esp. west in

dry/arid habitats

and prairies (CNC

deficient in all

western species)

Include collecting method and

time of day collected. Kill with

ammonia fumes. Field-pin; in-

struction leaflet and field kit avail-

able on request.

J.F. Landry 1

39 Milichiidae Anywhere Malaise traps are particularly pro-

ductive; also any found in associa-

tion with ant nests extremely ap-

preciated. Preserve in 70% etha-

nol.

J. Swann 25

40 Odonata (dragon-

flies)

North America Include 2-3 word habitat descrip-

tion. Adults preferably in enve-

lopes or papered, prepared by im-

mersing in acetone for 24 hours,

then dried; larvae in 70% ethanol.

R.A. Cannings 4

41 Opiliones

(harvestmen)

Canada and adja-

cent states

Preserve in 75% ethanol, espe-

cially adults with notes on habitats.

R. Holmberg 26

42 Orthoptera Anywhere J-T. Yang 27

43 Parasitic

Hymenoptera

Anywhere Including selected unsorted Mal-

aise, suction, pan or pitfall trap

collections (pan trap kits and in-

structions supplied free on re-

quest).

L. Masner 1

44 Phoridae Anywhere; espe-

cially boreal

Collect into 70% ethanol: espe-

cially interested in Malaise trap

samples from boreal forest.

B.V. Brown 28

45 Pipunculidae

(big-headed flies)

Anywhere in North

America

Adults can be pinned, pointed or

preserved in ethanol.

E. Georgeson 29

46 Psyllidae North America Preferably preserve in glycerine or

dried. Specimen records and host

plant records.

R. Foottit 1

47 Pteromalidae:

Pachyneuron

North America Reared materials with associated

sexes are particularly important,

regardless how few in number.

G.A.P. Gibson 1

48 Salticidae (jumping

spiders)

Canada Adult specimens preseved in 70%

ethanol. Include habitat informa-

tion, specific location of collec-

tion, collecting method.

C. Buddle, D.

Shorthouse

30

49 Scelionid egg para-

sites of Orthoptera

Anywhere Especially from Grylloidea; pre-

serve in ethanol.

L. Masner 1

50 Silphidae Canada Include habitat and trapping

method. Malaise trap material wel-

come.

R. Lauff 31

Vol. 20, No. 1 33

Material

Requested

Areas of

Interest

Collecting Methods,

Notes

Name of

Requester

**

51 Simuliidae

(black flies)

North Amer-

ica, esp. west-

ern and north-

ern species

Preserve larvae in Carnoy’s

solution (1 glacial acetic acid:

3 absolute ethanol). Reared

adults with associated pupal

exuviae preferred. Instructions

available on request.

D.C. Currie 25

52 Siphonaptera

(fleas)

Anywhere Preserve specimens in 70%

ethanol; host species is ex-

tremely important.

T.D. Galloway 24

53 Solpugida

(sun spiders)

Canada Preserve in 75% ethanol, espe-

cially adults with notes on

habitat.

P. Holmberg 26

54 Sphaeroceridae Anywhere,

esp. arctic or

high eleva-

tions

Collect into ethanol.

Acalyptrate fraction of trap

samples welcomed.

S.A. Marshall 32

55 Symphyta

(sawflies)

Boreal and

arctic Canada

Larvae and adults collected by

Malaise trap, sweeping, etc.

(collect into 70% ethanol).

Identify larval food plant as

far as possible.

H. Goulet 1

56 Tabanidae Canada Include habitat and trapping

method. Malaise trap material

welcome.

R. Lauff 31

57 Thysanoptera

(thrips)

North Amer-

ica

(Preserve in 70% ethanol).

Specimen records, habitat,

host plant records where ap-

plicable.

R. Foottit 1

58 Trichoptera

(caddisflies)

Anywhere Larvae, pupae and adults, es-

pecially collections that might

lead to species identification

of larva through association

with adult. Preserve adults dry

or in 80% ethanol, larvae and

pupae in Kahle’s fluid or 80%

ethanol.

G.B. Wiggins 25

59 [Identifications] High Arctic Specimens of soil animals in

return for identifications

G. Søvik 33


Cooperation Offered

a. Identification of groups of interest inreturn for a sample of duplicatespecimens.

Most but not all of entries in list above.

b Willing to sort material from certainresidues, bulk samples, etc.

See entries 5, 13, 19, 43, 50, 54, 56 above

c. Field kits or instructions available onrequest.

See especially entries 38, 43, 51 above.

d. Exchange of specimens. Several requesters, including entries 7, 20,40, 52 above.

e. Limited collecting in Coppermine area,N.W.T., if particular material required.

A. Gunn (address 34 below).

f. Soil animals from Ellesmere and AxelHeiberg Island, Island, arctic Canada.

G. Søvik (see entry 59 above)

g. Material in exchange for identifications. G. Søvik (see entry 59 above)

h. Caterpillars, larval sawflies, aphids andmites available on request from trapnestsfor solitary bees and wasps.

P. Hallett (address 35 below)

List of Known Email Addresses

(by requester name)

Barber, K.N.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Behan-Pelletier, V.M. . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Borkent, A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Bright, D.E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Brown, B.V. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Buddle, C.M. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Vol. 20, No. 1 35

Cannings, R.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Cannings, S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Currie, D.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Foottit, R. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Francoeur, A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Galloway, T.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Georgeson, E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Gibson, G.A.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Goulet, H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Griffiths, G.C.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Hallett, P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Hamilton, K.G.A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Holmberg, R. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Lafontaine, J.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Landry, J.F. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Larson, D.J. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Lauff, R. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

LeSage, L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Lindquist, E.E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Marshall, S.A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Masner L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Morgan, A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Morton, J.K. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Myles, T.G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Packer, L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Philip, K.W. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Prévost, Y.H. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]


Scudder, G.G.E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Sharkey, M. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Shorthouse, D.P. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Shorthouse, J.D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Smith, I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Søvik, G. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Strongman, D. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Swann, J. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Tourneur, J.C. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

Yang, J.T. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

List of Addresses

1. Biological Resources Program, Eastern Cereal and Oilseed Research Centre, Agriculture andAgri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6

2. 117 Collingwood Cove, 51551 Range Road 212A, Sherwood Park, AB T8G 1B2

3. Canadian Forest Service, 1219 Queen St. E., Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 5M7

4. Royal British Columbia Museum, P.O. Box 9815, Stn. Prov. Govt., Victoria, BC V8W 9W2

5. Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, 5 - 225 Agricultural Science CenterNorth, Lexington, KY 40546-0091, U.S.A.

6. 482 Montée de la Source, Cantley, QC J8V 3H9

7. University of Alaska, Institute of Arctic Biology, P.O. Box 757000, Fairbanks, AK99775-7000 U.S.A.

8. 1171 Mallory Road, R1-S20-C43, Enderby, BC V0E 1V0

9. 12 Westroyal Road, Etobicoke, ON M9P 2C3

10. 3 Woodridge Dr., Guelph, ON N1E 3M2

11. School of Forestry, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON P7B 5E1

Vol. 20, No. 1 37

12. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1

13. Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON P3E 2C6

14. Département des Sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, Montréal,QC H3C 3P8

15. Department of Biology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Downsview, ON M3J 1P3

16. Department of Biology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John�s, NF A1B 3X9

17. Département des Sciences fondamentales, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, 9555 boul. del�Université, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1

18. Department of Biology, St. Mary�s University, Halifax, NS B3H 3C3

19. Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1W5

20. B.C. Conservation Data Centre, Wildlife Branch, Ministry of Environment, PO Box 9344 Stn.Prov. Govt., Victoria, BC V8W 9M1

21. Faculty of Forestry, University of Toronto, 33 Willcocks, Toronto, ON M5S 3B3

22. Department of Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6

23. Department of Biology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1

24. Department of Entomology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2

25. Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen�s Park,Toronto, ON M5S 2C6

26. Athabasca University, Centre for Natural and Human Science, Athabasca, AB T9S 1A1

27. Department of Entomology, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, 402 Taiwan

28. Entomology Section, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Blvd.,Los Angeles, CA 90007, U.S.A.

29. Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 130, Shubenacadie, NS, B0N 2H0

30. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E9

31. Department of Biology, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS B2G 2W5

32. Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1

33. Biological Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1050 Blindern,N-0316, Oslo, Norway

34. Wildlife and Fisheries Division, Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Governmentof the Nortwest Territories, Box 1320, Yellowknife, NT X1A 3S8

35. Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8


Index to Taxa (entry nos.)

Arachnida

Solpugida . . . . . . . . . 53

Opiliones . . . . . . . . . 41

Araneae

Salticidae . . . . . . . 48

Acari . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 59, h

Hydracarina . . . . . 1

Collembola . . . . . . . . . . 59

Insecta . . . . . . . . . . . . 28, 31

Odonata. . . . . . . . . . 40

Plecoptera . . . . . . . . 31

Isoptera . . . . . . . . . . 32

Dermaptera . . . . . . . . 23

Orthoptera . . . . . . . . 42, 49

Mallophaga . . . . . . . . 37

Hemiptera . . . . . . . . 30

Adelgidae. . . . . . . 2

Aleyrodidae . . . . . 3

Aphididae . . . . . . 6, h

Cercopidae . . . . . . 12

Cicadellidae . . . . . 17

Coccoidea . . . . . . 18

Lygaeidae . . . . . . 36

Psyllidae . . . . . . . 46

Thysanoptera . . . . . . . 57

Coleoptera . . . . . . . . 19, 20

immatures . . . . . . 19

Chrysomelidae . . . . 16

Curculionidae . . . . 21

Dytiscidae . . . . . . 25

Leiodidae . . . . . . . 33

Silphidae . . . . . . . 50

Mecoptera . . . . . . . . 31

Diptera

Anthomyiidae . . . . 4

Anthomyzidae . . . . 5

Asilidae. . . . . . . . 7

Ceratopogonidae . . . 11

Chironomidae . . . . 14, 15

Milichiidae . . . . . . 39

Phoridae . . . . . . . 44

Pipunculidae . . . . . 45

Simuliidae . . . . . . 51

Sphaeroceridae . . . . 54

Tabanidae . . . . . . 56

Tipulidae . . . . . . . 31

Siphonaptera . . . . . . . 52

Lepidoptera . . . . . . . . 10, 34, 35, 38, h

Trichoptera . . . . . . . . 58

Hymenoptera

parasitic Hymenoptera 8, 13, 26, 43,. . . . . . . . . . . . 47, 49

Aculeata . . . . . . . 9, 29

Apidae . . . . . . . . 9

Braconidae . . . . . . 8

Chalcidoidea . . . . . 13, 47

Cynipidae. . . . . . . 22

Diprionidae . . . . . . 24

Eupelmidae . . . . . . 13, 26

Formicidae . . . . . . 27

Halictidae. . . . . . . 29

Pteromalidae . . . . . 47

Scelionidae . . . . . . 49

Symphyta. . . . . . . 24, 55, h

Fungi . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

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